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Not Star Wars related, posted on another board, but I figured I show it here.

This is hardly worth posting on a prop building forum, and to be honest (and politically correct) probably the "un-manliest" thread in this entire forum, but I did it for my kids and figured I'd share. This was supposed to be a $100, 2 weekend project that ended up costing twice as much and took twice as long (so it goes!).

I wanted to build a tree in their play room to fit their flat screen TV and DVD player. I quickly learned this project was a bit too ambitious for my skill level, but it turned out OK and the kids love it, which is all that really matters. This was the first time I tried something like this.

I bought a cheap, $18.00 TV stand from Wal-Mart.

I cut a slot out of the back plate for the DVD player and mounted it to the front. I put a small piece of industrial strength Velcro on the back of the DVD player so my kids couldn't push it back. I re-enforced behind the backing with 1 x 2's.

I bought some styrene pop-outs from Lowe's and started hot gluing a structure together.

I kept gluing several pieces together to form a basic structure. If I were to ever attempt this again, I would go online and buy two of those big 4' x 5' Styrofoam blocks used in construction, would have been so much easier.

I drew in some rough branch shapes and started to carve. I wish I had one of those hot wires to cut through the styrofoam but they were expensive. The craft stores sold one for about $20, but it was too small for this project and didn't work well.

Here's the basic tree shape.

I used brown felt, drenched in Elmer's glue, to cover the body. Once that dried, I covered the entire tree with two more coats of glue. It dried very solid and should hold up well.

Started painting the walls and added some vinyl Pooh stickers.

I painted the tree using several different Acrylic colors which is hard to see in the photo.

My mom came over and helped with painting some details.

I made the top of the tree out of a large heavy duty piece of green felt. The ceilings are about 9' - 10', so this is pretty tall. The felt is stapled to the ceiling and wall. My wife went to Michael's and used a 50% off coupon for a fake tree. I took all the branches off and pushed them through the felt and secured them with hot glue.

For the most part the entire room is done, save a few details. It came out OK and the kids love it. To be honest, it was a complete pain in the rear. I just wish I had better sculpting skills, the tree didn't come out how I had envisioned and the proportions are off, but I can live with this.

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the comments. Kids love it, the ceiling is painted blue with clouds and we put glow in the dark stars up there. It's allota fun laying there at night with the kids watching a movie.

As for incorporating Star Wars, I think maybe I'll work on something for my sons room. I need to be careful though, between this and my Star Wars mini theater I'm afraid my house is going to start to look like one of those cheap themed motels..........